Investor Group Buys Drugstore.com Shares

Drugstore.com Inc., which sells pharmaceuticals over the Internet, said a group of investors, led by the wife of Microsoft Corp. founder and Chairman Bill Gates, bought 6.8 million shares of its common stock from Rite Aid Corp. for about $13.7 million.

The company had about 67.4 million shares outstanding as of March 22. Investors paid $2.02 a share for Rite Aid’s remaining stake in Drugstore.com. Melinda French Gates and venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Maveron Equity Partners led a group that bought the Drugstore.com stock from Rite Aid, the firm said.

Shares rose 54 cents to $2.64 on Nasdaq.